A 25-YEAR-old woman was ordered to undertake unpaid work after admitting four counts of benefit fraud.

Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard Danielle Edgar received £1,904 in housing and council tax benefits which she was not entitled to.

Three of the offences were between March 11 last year, and February 20, when she failed to tell Tendring Council she was in paid employment and not receiving jobseekers’ allowance.

Stuart Cooper, prosecuting for the council, said in February Edgar applied for council tax benefit.

He said: “A data match exercise showed she had failed to declare that her jobseekers’ allowance had stopped.

“An investigation showed she had been in full-time employment with Whitbread and she was also receiving child tax credits.”

pregnant He said in interview Edgar, of Stour Road, Harwich, admitted the offences and said she knew the changes would affect her benefits.

Robert Newbold, mitigating, told the court: “When she gained employment she did in fact contact someone at Tendring Council, but doesn’t know who it was.”

He added Edgar did not work for Whitbread for long and, while pregnant, had been receiving statutory maternity pay but did not realise she still had to declare her employment.

He said although she accepted liability for the housing benefit, the money was actually paid directly to the landlord of her former home in Fronk’s Road, Dovercourt, and so she did not benefit from it.

Magistrates sentenced her to 75 hours of unpaid work for the community and ordered her to pay £300 costs.